Yeah- well I know this is a day later and it’s been two weeks since I’ve blogged here but nevertheless

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Did I lose 10 lbs before Christmas? Nah.. I think I set an unrealistic goal especially right before Christmas where it’s easy to occasionally succumb to temptation (in my case it has mostly just been a few episodes of speciality cheese and crackers brought into work by colleagues but apart from that and a little blip at my friend Margaret’s Christmas Brunch AND the FREE egg nog at the pub, I’ve been doing OK) That doesn’t really sound that good does it…?

However ,although I didn’t lose 10 lbs I did lose 4 lbs and weighed in on Christmas Eve at 279 lbs.  I do expect that to rise a little over the Christmas period as I am allowing myself alcohol and some treats!

Although my Christmas Day wasn’t exactly 1940’s my main meal really would have come as close as possible to an 1940’s English Christmas Dinner (except for the sparkling Australian wine)

I live in the country and have enough land to grown a large garden or raise poultry and even keep goats (if I so desired)…. infact before I moved to Canada I did this for several years. Country dwellers during WWII probably would have grown the majority of their own veggies and raised chickens and turkeys for the table (as well as pork etc). Infact even those living in the city may have reared back yard chickens for Christmas Day……people even clubbed together to raise pigs!

So my Christmas Day meal of

• an 8 lb chicken raised by some farming friends (and given to me as a gift)
• a huge ham gift from my employers at work
• locally grown potatoes, sprouts, parsnips, peas & carrots
• sausages wrapped in bacon
• homemade bread stuffing

was absolutely a country dwellers 1940’s meal or someone in the city who had planned ahead well.

Did the stuffing contain cat nip?

The chicken was the best I have ever tasted this year, as was the perfectly cooked parsnips in a honey glaze AND the homemade stuffing. If I lived in the 1940’s during rationing I would have had to save up my butter as the stuffing contained a mound of the stuff!

My homemade stuffing this year however, was full of extra ingredients to help it along the way. I chopped up onions and celery and softened them in a cup of butter before adding 1/3rd of a loaf of wholemeal bread, cubed. I then added this mixture to the other 2/3rd in a big bowl and mixed. Then I added 1/2 cup of marmite broth. And then I started adding a mixture of herbs & spices…

I realized to my horror the secret ingredient to my culinary triumph. CAT-NIP!

First sage, then thyme, then a little parsley, a little dill, black pepper, extra salt, pinch of summer savoury……and then there was a un-labelled package of herbs in a clear plastic bag, languishing at the back of the cupboard that smelt vaguely familiar. I liked the smell of it so added a large pinch into the mix….

Cooked at 200 C for 40 mins (after dotting butter over the top) the stuffing came out wonderfully and it was the best stuffing I’d ever made..

And then last night after I’d sunk the last of the wine we’d had with dinner, I realized to my horror the secret ingredient to my culinary triumph. CAT-NIP! The same cat nip I had bought a few years back (because I like the smell of it and I was going to try and be clever to make our cat a cat nip treat).

As I lived to tell the tale (thank goodness my kids don’t read my blog) I guess cat-nip is safely consumed in small portions BUT please don’t go rushing out to buy CAT-NIP for your stuffing even tho it tastes damn good!

MERRY CHRISTMAS xxxxxx